A Visit With The Surgeon

Let me first say that I love my friends.  I spent most of the weekend with different groups of friends and had so much fun!  No one made me feel awkward and everyone was able to make light of the situation.  Humor and laughter will get me through this!  I've said it already, but the support Josh and I have received from everyone has been so overwhelmingly wonderful!

This morning I met with the surgeon who did my excisional biopsy on July 17 (when they cut me open and sliced off a chunk of my lymph node).  She says my incision is healing up beautifully - and I have to agree, it looks great!  She said they weren't able to take out the entire lymph node due to it's size - it would have been too big of a risk considering the carotid artery is so close.  Good new is, they won't have to go back in to take the rest of it out.  Chemo should take care of that.

She also told me about the surgery to have a port put in for chemo.  I don't know yet if I'll need one (she assumed I probably would), but she'll be the one to do the surgery if I do.  I love this surgeon, so I'm glad she'd be the one doing it.

A port (or portocath) is basically a device implanted beneath the skin (usually on the upper chest) that attaches to a major vein.  This port will be used for blood draws and to administer chemo and other medications.  It eliminates the need to stick an IV in my arm or hand each time.  Considering how much trouble they have getting IVs in me, I'm kind of hoping this is the route they go!

Read more about ports here.

I meet with the oncologist on Wednesday and should have a ton more info to share then.

Love,
Melissa